AssCreed INFINITY (live service ahoy!)

[Syt]

https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/assassins-creed-infinity-will-turn-the-series-into-a-live-service-game-with-multiple-historical-settings/

It was inevitable, wasn't it.

Assassin's Creed Infinity will turn the series into a live-service game with multiple historical settings

As if Assassin's Creed games weren't already a bottomless pit of stuff to do, Ubisoft now wants to literally make a never-ending entry in the series.

The aptly codenamed Assassin's Creed Infinity is set to be a live-service game that will evolve and expand over time, according to a new report from Bloomberg. Instead of it being one isolated look into a historical period, Infinity is instead looking to stitch different settings together with room to expand and develop each one post-launch. Bloomberg says Ubisoft has been inspired by the longevity of games like Fortnite and Grand Theft Auto 5, which continue to make Epic Games and Rockstar a stupid amount of money.

While Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft Quebec usually take it in turns to develop each iteration of Assassin's Creed, Infinity will be a joint effort between the two divisions with Quebec's Marc-Alexis Côté taking charge overall. Each studio will still have its own creative director—with Jonathan Dumont heading up the role for Ubisoft Quebec and Clint Hocking for Ubisoft Montreal. Bloomberg speculates that the two studios' occasionally bitter rivalry may see some future bumps in the road.

Following the report, Ubisoft posted a separate blog post confirming that the game is in development, along with providing a bit of additional context. The studio echoed Bloomberg's report that the game is still in the very early stages of development, and delved into the decision to combine the efforts of Quebec and Montreal.

"Rather than continuing to pass the baton from game to game, we profoundly believe this is an opportunity for one of Ubisoft's most beloved franchises to evolve in a more integrated and collaborative manner that's less centered on studios and more focused on talent and leadership, no matter where they are within Ubisoft."

Something which Ubisoft fails to acknowledge in its post is the fact that the reorganisation continues to leave many of the people accused of harassment last year in charge. "Several men accused of abuse remain in lead roles after this reorg, which led to complaints on the internal forums," reporter Jason Schreier tweeted. "A Ubisoft spokeswoman says they 'had their case rigorously reviewed by a third party and were either exonerated or underwent appropriate disciplinary actions.'"

Despite Ubisoft repeatedly insisting everything is okay now, nobody is really convinced. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said earlier this year that the company had created a "clearer, more comprehensive, and more actionable" code of conduct to aid in reporting harassment and abuse. But with employees still saying nothing has changed in the last year and Schreier's latest claims, Ubisoft aren't out of hot water yet.

[garbon]

Only silver lining I can find is that I won't feel compelled to buy their products anymore.

[Syt]

That is true.

[Grey Fox]

That thing is so much not happening.

[Solmyr]

That thing is so much not happening.

Or it will come out and die about as quickly as Marvel's Avengers.

[Syt]

My problem with live service games is that they put a premium on keeping you engaged, and to spend as much of your time there as possible. This is generally driven by timed events and exclusives to feed on people's fear of missing out. And obviously the more time people spend in a game the more they may feel personally invested, making them more likely to spend money. Now, this is nothing new, MMORPGs have done that for many years, rewarding daily and weekly activities, offer quality of life and cosmetics for pay or grind, have timed events, etc.

But just like with MMOs the time requirement makes it quite hard to earnestly play more than one of these titles at a time. And I generally grow tired of games too quickly to stick with this kind of commitment for long to find it'd busywork engaging.

Though I guess I am sometimes kind of jealous of players who find a game they like and stick with it for years without feeling the need to switch it up much.

[garbon]

Yes, I'm a casual gamer. I rotate between games I'm playing and want to do so on my own time/terms. With games as service there is always a bit of FOMO.

[FunkMonk]

If the entry point price is low enough I could possibly see myself playing this a little, but it would depend on the content.

Would they charge, say, $20 for the base game and $40 for every new content pack? That would the Destiny 2 model (although Destiny 2 charges nothing for it's base level content and the free-to-play stuff is wanting).

That said, I skipped their recent Viking AC game. I really enjoyed Odyssey but the new one just didn't strike me as interesting or new.

[Iormlund]

I'm with Syt on this.

It's a pity because I'd love to see a proper Ghost Recon single player game. Perhaps if this flops terribly (see FO76, Anthem).